And, like the others, he juggled the contradictions of this shameful period in his country’s history where his style and his voice brought him fame beyond the African-American community, which was itself shocked by his perceived sexualisation of gospel music at the beginning of his career. Like Sam Cooke and others who refused to sing in front of all-white audiences, he was torn between his mainstream celebrity and his ‘inferior condition’ as a black man, kept in perpetual subjugation by segregationist laws. So Ray Charles decided not to play that night. Activists warned him that the theatre was strictly reserved for a white-only audience. In 1961, Ray Charles was due to play in Augusta, Georgia, in the midst of segregation. As we’re listening to it we can understand that what haunts his mind is his state and not, in fact, a girl named Georgia (which was perhaps the case in the original song because it was the first name of the sister of one of the authors).Ī political event would propel Ray Charles’ version even further, barely a year after its release. In the end, far more than “New York My Home” or “Blue Hawaii”, which were expected to be the album’s hits, it was “Georgia on My Mind” that eclipsed all the other tracks, thanks to the power of its interpretation and the intense emotion Ray Charles puts into it.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND RAY CHARLES DRIVER
The idea of singing “Georgia” came to him from his driver who heard the Genius humming the song all the time. The blind pianist and singer had already released a few hits, including “What I’d Say”, when he decided to take up this popular ballad and include it on the album The Genius Hits the Road, a ‘concept album’ paying tribute to different locations. For Ray Charles’ version of “Georgia on My Mind”, it all began in 1960. But it was Ray Charles who gave it the political, melancholic, strange and deeper meaning that the song is known for today (even if others such as Louis Armstrong, Deep Purple, Billie Holiday and James Brown have also sung it). It was originally a jazzy song written in the 1930s by two white composers: Stuart Gorrel, (a banker from New York) and Hoagy Carmichael (a songwriter also known for “Stardust” and “Winter Moon”). With his unique style and his stunning, crooning voice, he turned it into an anthem about the ghosts that haunt those who’ve experienced the racism of the south and still have ‘no peace’.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND RAY CHARLES HOW TO
Just an old, sweet song, keeps Georgia on my mind.” Although he didn’t write the song, it was Ray Charles who knew how to popularise it.
“ I said, Georgia, oh, Georgia, no peace I find. In the predominantly Republican state, the song could be heard everywhere during the campaign. And it’s quite a symbol because Charles and his song “Georgia on My Mind” really were on everyone’s mind during the campaign. Instead there are average Americans appearing in a golden frame to the tune of “America The Beautiful”, performed by the legendary Ray Charles in a tribute to the country’s newfound unity. There are no images of the two winners, victorious in Washington, D.C. Newly elected president Joe Biden and his vice-president Kamala Harris, an avowed fan of black music, paid tribute to Georgia and the state’s genius in their victory montage, directed by Lorraine O’Grady, a heroine of the Harlem parades.
There was always the immense Ray Charles, eternally associated with the song “Georgia on My Mind”, which he sang at every single one of his concerts (he must have sung it more than 10,000 times!), but since 2020, Georgia also has Stacey Abrahams, an energetic 46-year-old Democratic lawyer, who has been making headlines thanks to her years of pushing African-Americans to vote, enough to swing the election! She has definitely put Georgia on our minds, thanks to her long term work in this southern state of the United States, once the seat of a terrible segregation that still manages to rear its ugly head when it comes to electoral boundaries. But in the wake of this election, two world-renowned black figures have emerged from Georgia. In large cities like Atlanta – with largely African-American populations – the Republican state government had ensured that there were far fewer polling stations per capita in black neighbourhoods, in order to discourage voters who were more likely to cast their votes for the Democrats. Some voters had to wait almost 12 hours before posting their ballot in the box. 3rd November 2020 – the day of the American presidential elections in the state of Georgia, where interminable queues stretched out in front of the polling stations.
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